#b thom stevenson

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ANYONE & B. THOM STEVENSON, HEADLONG INTO ETERNITY (2019)

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B. Thom Stevenson   The Power of Peacekeeping (Landscape)

Enamel on raw canvas   5 x 20 x .75 inches

In small, Fri-Sun 1-6 PM, through July 1.

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Opening of Today Is the Tomorrow You Dreamed about Yesterday at Galerie Manqué, 1/6/17. Show continues through January 22.

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Opening January 6:  Today Is the Tomorrow You Dreamed about Yesterday.  Opening reception:  Jan. 6, 6-9 p.m.  Exhibition continues through Jan. 22.

B. Thom Stevenson    Etiquette in America

Oil enamel on canvas     60 x 48 x 1.375 inches    

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Today Is the Tomorrow You Dreamed about Yesterday

January 6 – 22, 2017 

Opening Reception: January 6, 6-9 p.m. 

Galerie Manqué kicks off 2017 with Today Is the Tomorrow You Dreamed about Yesterday, featuring Daniel Albrigo, Cali Thornhill DeWitt, Andy Mister and B. Thom Stevenson. The works exhibited evoke a feeling of unease and uncertainty, of foreboding, of impending threat.* 

The paintings by Daniel Albrigo are from a series that incorporates elements from quotidian “Beware of Dog” signs, images which present dogs as potentially aggressive defenders of property, or adjuncts to a larger authority. The paintings also bring to mind news photos from the early ‘60s of civil rights demonstrators being threatened by police dogs in the American South. 

The work of Cali Thornhill DeWitt also displays an aesthetic influenced by designs commonly used in advertisements or signs that are intended to convey simple, bold messages. A striking central image is sandwiched between large areas of text, usually consisting of just two words in very large type.  In DeWitt’s work the straightforward banality of such signs is transformed into striking, almost violent poetry, evoking feelings of danger, chaos, anxiety and helplessness. 

In creating his drawings, Andy Mister aims not only to convincingly transform a photographic image into a meticulously rendered work on paper, but to reproduce the visual quirks specific to mechanically reproduced images from previous eras (such as satiny shadows, graininess, high contrast, etc.).  The subject matter of his source material is sometimes drawn from historical events that involve social unrest or upheaval.  The current image comes from the 1992 LA riots. 

B. Thom Stevenson works in a wide variety of media, including painting, zines, sculpture and performance.  His work brings together images from across the cultural spectrum: high and low, mainstream and subcultural, historical and current.  His subtle orchestration and resonant juxtaposition of these images suggests a chaotic world of 24-hour information, filled with contradiction and conflict. 

The exhibition was organized by gallery curator George Metesky.

 *Can’t imagine why.

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Opening Friday, 1/6, 6-9 PM.

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Days Have Gone By

Nov. 20 – Dec. 6, 2015

Opening Reception: November 20, 6-9 p.m.

For its latest pop-up show, Galerie Manqué presents Days Have Gone By, guest-curated by artist and poet Andy Mister.  The exhibition features work by Glen Baldridge, Juliet Jacobson, Alex McQuilkin, Chris Oh and B. Thom Stevenson.  Says Mister of his conception of the show:   

When I began to think about artists for this show, I had in mind a certain type of artwork that I enjoy but don’t see enough of, work that involves craft and attention to materials and detail without becoming overly showy or lifeless. 

The artists in this show use technical skill towards accurately representing the world around them. They are interested in objects and imagery and how they inform our lived experience. I am amazed by their varied approaches and techniques within traditional forms of painting, drawing and printmaking. Even though they use similar techniques and materials, Juliet Jacobson’s colored pencil drawings of the minute variations in color of an old mirror look nothing like Alex McQuilkin’s pastel drawing of a hand-knitted balaclava. Chris Oh builds up his painted surfaces with innumerable washes of acrylic, while B. Thom Stevenson covers his high-contrast images with a thin wash of white, leaving a barely perceptible pink. Glen Baldridge puts his immense printmaking skill to work recreating the designs of playing cards in three-color lithographs. 

All the artists show considerable skill and talent in their chosen media, but the final results are not simply about skill or technical ability. They are not showing off. Their painstaking craft tells us that these pieces cannot be consumed in one quick glance: we must spend time with them, just as the artists have spent considerable time bringing them into the world. These are not pieces to rush past or glance over. Like the music of John Fahey, which gives the show its title, technical virtuosity is used in service to beauty.